My name is Ciani Thompson, and I am the praise and worship leader of the Word of Christ Ministries. I can easily say that trying to serve the Lord everyday is an everlasting struggle. Why? Because the devil is always there trying to get you to do wrong when you wanna do right. And I’ve witnessed this on many occasions before. And went astray many MANY times, and honestly I still do. But then I think of the goodness of the Lord and how’s He’s stuck beside me in the midst of everything. In the middle of pain, fear, sadness, anger, financial problems and whatever else, God is always there to take us by the hand and show us the way. And in this day going into this New year I’m thankful for that. My new years resolution: To grow closer to God, and leave my everything negative in 2018 where it belongs.

Sister Brenda Jones of Word of Christ Ministries; the Lord has been moving in my life through 2018.

I accept His blessings with a clean heart, as faithful prayers have brought me through.

My son was sentenced to 10 years in prison but God changed that! His sentence has been reduced. My Pastor’s intercessory prayer reached our Father.

In 2018 I was in the hospital for three weeks but through prayer and faith, I was healed of my illness. I had been in stage four kidney failure for three or four years prior when I went into complete failure before I left the hospital.

Through the prayers of Pastor Mark Thompson I was given hope that I will come off of dialysis as long as I believe and trust our Father that He will bless me again and deliver me from diabetes one day soon. We have to keep our mind on Jesus.

I thank God and the prayers of the righteous. My Pastor, Mark H. Thompson, and the members of Word of Christ Ministries.

God called me in the strangest of places. I have so many glorious testimonies for the Lord, but I think it appropriate to speak on what started me back on the journey with the Lord.

In February of 2015, I had to go to jail for 10 days and it was one of the hardest things for me to do, because I had to willingly surrender. On the way to the prison, our pastor, my Uncle Mark, prayed over me and gave me some words of encouragement that I was not too keen on hearing at the time. I received the sentence because of a DUI and I did not agree with the time fitting the crime. I begrudgingly allowed the pastor to pray for me and walked into county jail.

My short time in jail was an amazing and uplifting experience. I was faced with a host of broken men and lost souls, but found a few that really connected with me. God was able to minister to me there through an older gentlemen that was sent there through bizarre circumstances. The long and short of the story is that God called me back to him while there and I regave my life to Christ in jail. I cried out for the Lord in a cell block of 30 other men.

Fast forward to today, 12/30/2018, God gets the glory because I have took every detour, stopped at every delay, and sped through every school zone, but the God of all grace has kept me for his purposes and allowed me to be able to say this, that if it had not been for the Lord, who has been by my side, I would not be here to testify to God’s glorious and unmerited love and grace. Many events have transpired and miracles performed by the Lord in between this time and 2015. The power of the Lord Jesus Christ to heal, correct and change all that is broken is real. You have only to believe!

Thank you God. There are blessings waiting for you in 2019, we have only to walk in our faith.

I have been praying for a very, very, very long time for this day to come to past and GOD answered it!!!

On December 23, 2018 my Son called his father to reconcile their relationship, which was estranged for a very long time. I don’t know when his heart changed from being enamored with his father to being disenchanted with him but I do know the day when he openly reconciled with him for all to see.

My brother, Pastor Mark of Word Of Christ Ministries, told the church on Sunday, 12/23/18, of how our relationship was estranged for many years because of his ignorance and how we reconciled without bringing up any past hurts between us. The Pastor also spoke on the broken relationship that was healed with our mother, that God put back together. He said it’s as if we picked up where we left off before our relationship was frayed.

How glorious is GOD to lead Pastor Mark to speak on our past estranged relationship and my brother’s obedience to the prompting of the LORD that Sunday to bring that out for the purpose of finally healing my Son’s wound of his father.

GOD is in the midst of and cares about everything we do, say, feel, think, believe, etc. even down to the very small, minuteness details of our lives. GOD showed up in the midst of my anxieties and doubts about whether I’ll be in good health during my travels and visit to Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia for the Thanksgiving holiday. HE showed out and let me know that HE is GOD and that HE fails not!!!

I’m usually a very good planner and packer but not this time. My brain and thought processes just haven’t been there at work nor this trip, so this is very unusual for me and that’s when I recognized that the Devil was in the mix.

At work I struggled to get the most mundane task done and completing assignments by the deadline dates were challenging. For weeks prior at work I had the intention to straighten and organize my office before the Thanksgiving break but I didn’t accomplish that either. So here I was Tuesday night left with packing yet to do for a Wednesday morning departure and had felt the symptoms of a cold brewing all Tuesday at work. My colds usually develop into a nasty upper respiratory infection which lasts at least 10 days and here I was due to travel on an eight-hour drive down South the next day and I wasn’t going to accept what the Devil was trying to stop, GOD’s work. Satan and his demonic spirits were trying to prevent me from going on this trip through a mishap of various things that night but I prayed and prayed and prayed to GOD to help me and give me the strength to do what I needed to do. As the cold symptoms increased throughout the night now with continual sneezing, running nose and congestion, I continued to move and pack while praising and thanking the LORD for being my FATHER who cares for me in everything that I do and I mean everything I do! I did manage to pray one more time before getting into bed with just 3 hours to sleep.

I fell asleep with all of the classic cold symptoms such as a running nose, congested sinuses and clogged ears that said that my five-day trip would be plagued with nothing but discomfort. BUT GOD’s Word says that HE will never leave you nor forsake you, just trust HIM. GOD delivered me because when I woke up the next morning, all of the cold symptoms were gone. I felt like I never had any symptoms of a cold at all. My Son came in from work at mid-night the night before and asked what’s going on and if I was getting sick before I left. He said to me right before I went to bed that it was just an attack from Satan to discourage me and that’s all it was, an attack because 24-hours later on Black Friday I’m sitting here at my sister’s house in North Carolina cold free.

To get through some tough times and thoughts I’ve combined choruses from two Christian songs that I like and have made it my mantra when things are getting trying and challenging in my life: “Tell the Devil no not today because I’m fully known by the LORD and HE loves me anyway.” Trust and believe that because GOD cares and is in the midst of everything we do! Nothing is too small or too great for GOD, trust and love HIM.

January 31, 1920, Benjamin Irvin and Azalea Walker welcomed their first baby girl into the world and named her Vivian C. Irvin. Vivian was the oldest of eight children, three sisters and four brothers. She was educated through the Berlin New Jersey public school system. She was an avid reader. She loved to read all genres but her favorite subject to read about was the preparation of health food.

Vivian loved to cook and travel. In her earlier days she loved to go to the spa. Cooking health food and playing cards were two of her favorite past times. Vivian had a very generous heart and had a genuine love for all people especially her friends and family. Vivian opened her home and cared for two friends that were ailed with mental disabilities. She loved them dearly and they lived with her for 15 years.

Even though she loved everyone, she loved the Lord Jesus Christ the most! She faithfully attended church throughout her entire life and would testify to anyone she came in contact with. She was beloved by all of her church family and friends and became known as Mother. Although Mother loved everyone there were a few people that held a very special place in her heart. Mother had a very dear friend that was her neighbor for many years. In fact Mother referred to her as her “Angel” because she was so good to her throughout the years.

Mother attended Word of Christ Ministries for worship in her later years and developed a very loving relationship with Elder Mark Thompson. She referred to Elder Thompson as her Son. Mother lived out her last months in Elder Thompson’s home where she was very happy. She loved Sunday when all the kids would come over and you could always spot her passing out dollars or candy to the little ones.

Vivian loved to laugh and was very fun, loving, and smart. She was known as the family historian and would provide information about her family lineage as far back as the 1880’s.

Word of Christ Ministries had its opening service June 4, 2017 in its new location. GOD is blessing the ministry as it was 4 years and 4 months in the living room of Pastor Thompson. “All things are possible to those who believe” Mark 9:23 as we begin to build GOD’s kingdom bit by bit.